


Is It Hard To Understand I'm Incomplete?

by gambitspryde (beaches_at_treasure_island)



Series: Prompts [5]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Adoption, Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Based on a My Chemical Romance Song, Be Careful What You Wish For, Emo, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Family, Family Feels, Feels, Gen, Gender Identity, Gender Issues, Gender-Neutral Chara, Gender-Neutral Pronouns, Hugs, Punk, Punk Rock, Teen Angst, Teenagers, With female parts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-31
Updated: 2016-01-31
Packaged: 2018-05-17 12:20:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,637
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5869234
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beaches_at_treasure_island/pseuds/gambitspryde
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Someone on Wrexie's Picarto livestream mentioned Angsty Emo!Punk!Scene Chara and this happened.... </p><p>Complete with gender identity and cross-species adoption issues, and plenty of teen angst.</p><p>Title from MCR's "Famous Last Words".</p>
            </blockquote>





	Is It Hard To Understand I'm Incomplete?

Chara sat on their bed, propped against their headboard as they scrolled through the music player Alphys had found and modified before giving to Chara for their birthday. It contained a lot of music from the surface world, nearly filled to capacity when the scientist found it. Alphys had fiddled with it, increasing the capacity by nearly seven times. Chara had listened to a few songs already but none of them really clicked until now.

They’d just gotten into a huge fight with Asgore, their dad. He’d told Chara off for traveling through the Underground yesterday without Asriel. Chara had run off and left their brother behind after Asriel had unintentionally said something to hurt Chara’s feelings. They’d been having trouble explaining to Asriel that they didn’t feel like a ‘she’ but Asriel kept refuting with things along the line of “But you’re a girl”. So as Asgore berated Chara, they felt some deep firey rage build up until they burst out, “YOU’RE NOT MY REAL FATHER,” before running to their bedroom and locking the door behind them.

There was a playlist on the music player that Chara had scrolled through the other day, but never really felt the need to listen to until now. It was, funnily enough, titled “Teen Angst”. Feeling lucky, Chara stuffed their headphones over their head and hit shuffle. Suddenly, loud, heavy music roared through the speakers. They glanced down at the song playing, the name displayed on the decently sized backlit screen.

Teenagers by My Chemical Romance scrolled across the lit up display. Brow furrowed, Chara let themself carefully listen to the words of the song. “The boys and girls in the clique/The awful names that they stick/You're never gonna fit in much, kid/But if you're troubled and hurt/What you got under your shirt/We’ll make them pay for the things that they did.”

Chara felt tears falling down their cheeks. Why did it have to be so difficult? Why couldn’t their best friend in the whole world just understand that they weren’t a girl? Why did it hurt so much to be referred to as ‘she’, anyway? It was just a word. But somehow, that one word felt like a knife, finding a home in Chara’s gut with every repetition. Chara swiped at their cheeks angrily. Why did they have to be such a fucking baby? It was a word, goddamn it. Geez. But god did it hurt. The song was right. Whenever Chara went out among the citizens of the Underground, the kids would be the meanest to them, but only when the adults and Asriel weren’t around to notice. The monster kids made fun of Chara for being human, for not really being Asgore and Toriel’s child. For not wanting to play with the female children, with dolls and sleepovers and gossiping. For not parting from Asriel when they wandered the Underground.

Chara threw themself off their bed. They wanted to scream, or hit something, or anything. They felt so much pent up anger racing through their veins as they listened to the next song, and the next. In their fit of angst, they tore through their room like a tornado, smashing and tearing things as they came across them, heedless of whether they actually liked the object or not. Faintly, they could hear someone shouting and pounding on their locked door, but they ignored it as they threw a tantrum. Later, Chara would come to regret the destruction they’d reigned throughout the bedroom, but as the tore the arms off their denim jacket they couldn’t find it in themself to care. With black and red paint, they streaked and splotched the makeshift denim vest with sharp, angry motions. After a minute, they moved on, not even halfway through tearing the room apart.

An hour later, Chara found themselves without an inch of non-chaotic space in their room, and a might better feeling in their heart. Their anger had finally petered out as they wound down. Chara observed the aftermath of their destruction, sitting on their bed. To say the room was in disarray would be a disservice to the rampant wreckage.

Papers lay burned and shredded on the carpet, ashes ground in with Chara’s sneakers. Pillows had been torn open, feathers flying still as the ceiling fan moved them around. The armoire lay on the ground, thrown on its side. Paint stained nearly everything in a dark, gory fashion, and the handmade flower pot that Asgore had crafted for Chara’s birthday lay shattered in the corner. The vanity Toriel had commissioned for Chara was broken and ruined, wood legs snapped and mirror cracked. The small collection of makeup that Toriel had gifted along with the vanity was mostly smashed and smeared as well. The book Asriel had found in the garbage dump for Chara, one that they’d loved from when they’d lived on the surface, was torn and scribbled on.

Carefully, Chara turned off the music player and removed the headphones. They laid the items gently on the bed, no longer feeling the urge to ruin another of their precious objects. They stood from the bed, and waded through the mess as they searched for anything salvageable. Most of the clothes from the armoire had been ripped at and torn into uselessness, all but the clothes Chara wore and the denim vest. Chara lifted it gingerly. The paint had dried and set. There was no removing it. They ran trembling fingers over the fabric as they realized what they had done. As the weight of their ruinous behave sank in, Chara slipped the vest on over their sweater, which was stained black with paint and ink as well.

The entire house had fallen silent. Chara couldn’t hear anyone in the house, not a single whisper. Again, Chara waded through their mess and flipped the lock with a trembling hand. What if Asgore hated them? What if he and Toriel threw Chara out? Biting their lip, Chara inched the door open and slunk out through the sliver of space, closing the door behind them.

The hallway light switched on, and Chara turned around with a gasp, tears welling up in their eyes. They wrapped their arms around themself as they looked up at Toriel through their bangs.

“Oh, my child,” Toriel murmured softly, gathering Chara up in their arms.

Chara sobbed in her arms. “Mom,” they cried. “Mom, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to. I swear I didn’t. I love him, I do. But... Dad was... and Asriel... and I was so mad.”

Toriel ran a soothing paw over her child’s back. “Shh, Chara. He knows you didn’t mean it. He still loves you, too. You’re our daughter and we’ll always love you.”

Chara tore themself from Toriel’s arms. “But I’m not your daughter...” Chara shook their head when Toriel went to protest, a flash of hurt in her eyes. “I’m... I’m not a girl, Mom. I’m not.”

“But... What do you mean?”

“I mean, I’m a person, but I’m not a girl. I don’t like it when people call me ‘her’ or ‘she’. I don’t feel like a girl in here.” Chara touched a spot just below where their ribcage ended, where their soul resided. “I’m sure, Mom. I-I tried to tell Asry yesterday but he... he wasn’t listening to me. Not really. I tried to explain but he wasn’t... and that’s why I ran off without him. It hurt when I tried explaining I wasn’t a ‘she’ and he...” Chara’s breath hitched as they held back a sob.

Immediately, Toriel pulled her child back into her arms.

“Why do-don’t you hate m-me? I’m n-not your d-daughter anymore. Y-you said you’d a-always wanted a daughter, to do girly th-things with,” Chara muttered into their mother’s fur.

“I may have wanted a daughter, but I have you. My child, no matter what. My love is unconditional, Chara. And that means I will accept and support you, whoever you want to be,” the queen told her child as she hugged them tighter.

From behind them, Chara heard someone hesitantly clear their throat. “I-I love you, too, Chara. I didn’t mean to hurt you,” they heard Asriel say softly. “But if you’re not my sister then what do I call you?”

“Your sibling, or sib – instead of sis?” Chara asked shyly.

Grinning Asriel ran over and joined the hug, saying. “I love you, sib.” Lovingly, he nuzzled their cheek.

“I, too, am sorry, my child,” Asgore added with severity. “I... I shouldn’t have talked at you. You are old enough to talk with. I promise to listen to your side of the story next time, Chara.” After a silent moment, he added, “I love you, kid.”

Chara felt their spirits lift. Asgore reserved the nickname ‘kid’ for them whenever they felt like they weren’t part of the family, after Chara had chattered on about goats from the surface world and how their offspring were called ‘kids’. “Th-thanks, Dad... I love you, too. I-”

Asgore peeled Chara away from their mom and brother, lifting them up to perch on his hip. “Hey, hey. I know. Honestly, I’m surprised we didn’t have to talk about this sooner. You will always be my child, no matter if you’re human or monster. Regardless of blood, you are mine.”

“I love you so much, Dad,” Chara cried, burying their face into Asgore’s broad shoulder. He held them firmly, caringly, as Toriel and Asriel joined the family hug.

After a minute, Toriel spoke up, having a niggling question.

“So, what were you doing that caused all that noise?”

Chara groaned as they buried their face deeper into their Dad’s fur and willed the moment to end, but deep down they felt so happy, surrounded by a family that loved them unconditionally.


End file.
